The Book of Lost Friends, Wingate - B+

                     Every chapter of this exceptional novel is preceded by a reprint of an article from the 'Lost Friends' column from the Southwestern Christian Advocate newspaper in the early 1880's. The articles were intended to be read by pastors at the colored churches in the Louisiana-Texas borderlands and throughout the south. The clippings are very brief and some of the most painful reading imaginable, simple requests for information about siblings, children and parents, all lost and separated prior to emancipation.  The novel tells two stories, one set in 1875 about a woman, Hannie, who was born enslaved but lived to be free, and about a school teacher, Benny, in 1987. Both are connected by a place and the exploration of that place reminds us of the extensive intermingling of the races that was part of the South. This is a great book and another fine Wendell Erwin recommendation.